Insulator-support.



C. L. PEIRCE, JR.

Patented 00%. 26, 1915 INVENTOB. m mcaum BY W, 3% ATTORNEYS.

I 5 I TN ESSES sating for such irregularities Partner CHARLES L. PEIRGE, 33., OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA.

INSULATOR- UPEOBT.

Application filed ZIay e, 1914.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, CHARLES L. PEIRCE, Jr., a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Pittsburgh, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Insulator-Supports, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to insulator supports particularly to such supports in which a thimble in the form of a wire helix is provided for receiving the insulator.

My invention may be considered as an improvement over the construction and arrangement shown in my Patent No. 856388, issued to me June 11, 1907. In the struc ture of this patent, the supporting pin or stem has vertical slots for receiving the upper and lower ends oi the helix, or the up per and lower ends of the helix are received in a' common vertical slot. In either arrangement there is no provision for radial or spiral contraction or expansion or movement of the helix or its turns. If insulators, as put on the market, were all of. uniform bore, structures like those of the patent would he adequate and cilicient. However, insulators are. not all alike and vary considerably in bore, and may be otherwise distorted duringmanufacture. It is therefore necessary, in order to have an elticicnt structure, to provide for allowing and compenand inequalities. and the general object of my invention is therefore to provide such structure which will overcome the deficiencies of structures like that in my patent referred to.

More in detail, my invention contemplates the provision of openings for the ends of the helix, which openings besides giving vertical play, will permit transverse play, that is, they will allow radial or spiral contraction and expansion of the helix as a whole or of its turns, and particularly of those turns directly engaged by an insulator. Such construction and arrangement will not only allow and compensate to any irregularities and inequalities between and in insulators but will eliminate any localized and concentrated strains in the insulator on account oi this freedom of the turns to unil'ormly contract and expand radially and to creep or move spirally. It is particularly neeessauv that there be such yielding move- Spccification of Letters Patent.

Patented (lot. 258,

Serial 260.836.1154.

nlent in order that an insulator may be more readily unscrewed, one great drawback to structures like that in the patent referred to being the inability to readily unscrew the insulator except by the application of greater force sometimes than could be obtained by the hands alone. However, by anchoring the ends of the helix in transversely elongated openings, the helix will he held at the top but free to readily contract and move spirally below the top end when an insulator is applied thereto, and the helix will be anchored at its lower end and free to contract and yield spirally when the insulator is unscrewed, and after an in sulator has been applied the natural resiliency and spring of the helix will hold its turns snugly and with uniform pressure against the insulator to lock it against turning when in service,

The variousteatures of the invention can be clearly understood by reference to the accompanying drawings in which- Figure 1 is a side elevational view of a hracket'forni of support with the helix thimhle thereon, Fig. 2 is a front elevational view, Fig. 3 is a sectional view on plane 3 3 Fig. .2. Fig. l is a sectional view on plane l-l. Fig. 2.

and Fig. 5 is a view onplane 5: Fig. l showing an insulator in.

place and showing the arrangement of the helix when unscrewing force is applied to the insulator.

Although in the drawing I have shown the support in the form of a bracket formed up of channel iron. the invention could he applied to other forms of support built up of other forms of stock material. The bracket 10 shown is bent from channel iron and provided with a strap 11 having the holes 12. i2 tor screws or bolts. lhe end section 13 of the bracket is tapered upwardly slightly in any suitable manner to "ollow the conical outline of thehelical thimhle 'l. the turns of which are of increas ing diameter downwardly in accordance with the conical interior of insulators. Adjacent the. upper end of the bracket a slot ii is provided which is of a height slightly greater than the diameter of the wire from which the helix is formed, and ot' a width considerably greater than the diameter of the wire. At the base of the section 13 is the opening 15 whose height is greater than the diameter of the wire and whose width may also be greater than the diameter of the wire. The upper end 2? of the thimble wire is deflected radially inwardly and through the opening 14, and the lower end t of the helix is curled and deflected radially inwardly through the lower opening 15. The helix is preferably so applied that it will have sufficient unwindingtendency to hold the upper end t against the inner edge of the hole 14, as shown in Fig; 2 and in full lines Fig. 3, and to hold the lower end 25 against the inner edge of opening 15, as shown in Fig. 1 and in full lines Fig. 4. If now, an insulator I is screwed on to the thimble the smaller diameter thread section of the insulator will reach the larger diameter turns and the resulting friction will tend to drag the helix turns with the insulator, particularly if the insulator is of smaller than standard bore or is otherwise distorted or irregular.

If the lower end of the helix were securely anchored against radial contraction or spiral movement, as in the structure of my patent referred to,'the insulator will be subjected to severe strain, usually locally concentrated, and if it would not break during the screwing on operation, such strain would quickly result in breakage if the insulator were afterward subjected to blows, pulls or other forces, or to contraction due to temperature. However, by providing for transverse play in addition to vertical play by means of hole.

15, the turns below the anchored upper end of the helix can yield individually and give either radially or by spiral movement -or creeping, the end t bein free to move radially the full width of ole 15 and to curl into thehole as illustrated by dotted lines Fig. 4. The insulator can thus very readily,

and without danger of breakage, be screwed on to the thimble and then when it is released the turns will spring back and will intimately and-uniformly press against the insulator sufficiently to hold it securely i'n service position without introducing any localized or concentrated strain therein. When the insulatoris turned to be unscrewed, the lower end t' will again anchor the-lower end of the helix by engaging the I inner edge of the hole 15 as the friction tends to drag the helix turns with the insulator.

. However, on account of the wide upper hole 1 the turns above the lower anchored end are free to contract radially and to creep or move spirally, the end t shifting along the hole 14 and being free to curl into the hole as illustrated in Fig. 5 and in dotted lines .Fig. 3. Very little effort is therefore neces sary to unscrew the insulator and all danger of breakage is eliminated In structures like that of my patent referred to very great force, and force greater than can be applied by the hands, would at times be necessary to unscrew the insulator on account of the inability of the helix to jury to the workman who unscrews the insulator. In my improved arrangement the anchoring holes ll and 15 are, as before described, also slightly enlarged vertically and this play further increases the-resiliency and yield of the helix. However, the ability in my structure of the turns below the upper anchored end to yield in all directions and to creep or move spirally when an insulator is applied, and the ability of the turns above the lower anchored end to yield in all directions and to move spirally when the insulator is unscrewed is the important feature of the invention and a feature which is not disclosed in my patent referred to and which is not present in other insulator supports of the prior art.

My invention is not only applicable to supports built up of stock material, as for example channel iron, but is applicable toother structures, and is also applicable to solid supports such as Wrought iron or steel pins with equal efficiency, the anchoring holesfbeing very readily formed in such solid structures. I do not therefore desire to be limited to the precise-form and structure shown and described, -and y I claim the following:

1. An insulator support comprising a stem, an insulator receiving thimble in the form of a wire helix encircling said stem, said stem having an upper opening and a lower opening, the lower end of the helix wire extending into the lower opening to anchor the lower end of the helix, the upper end of the helix wire extending into the upper opening and such upper opening: be-

in wider than the'diameter of the wire whereby the helix turns above the anchored allow helical movement oi the turns of the helix above the anchored lower end thereof.

3. An insulator support comprising a stem, an insulator receiving thimble in the form of a wire hehx encircling the stem, sald stem having an opening and one end of the helix wirc booking through said opening, said stem having another opening and the other end of the helix wire hooking therethrough, one of said openings being of sufficient width to allow radial expansion, contraction and spiral movement of the helix turns.

4. An insulator support comprising a stem, an nsulator receiving thimble in the form of a wire helix encircling said stem, said stem having an upper opening through which the upper end of the helix wire hooks to anchor the upper end of the helix when an insulator is applied thereto, said stem ha ing a lower opening through which the lower end of the helix wire hooks to anchor the helix when an insulator is unscrewed therefrom,'one of said openings being elongated transversely to permit helical movement of the turns of the helix above the other opening.

stem, an'insulator receiving thimble in the form of a wirehelix encircling said stem, said stem having an upper opening through which the upper end of the helix wire hooks to anchor the upper end of the helix when an insulator is applied thereto, said stem having a lower opening through which the lower end of the helix wire hooks to anchor the helix when an insulator is unscrewed therefrom, the upper opening being elongated laterally to permit radial expansion and contraction and spiral movement of the turns above the lower opening when the insulator is unscrewed.

6. An insulator support comprising a stem, an insulator receiving thimble in the form of a wire helix encircling said stem, said stem having an upper opening through which the upper end of the helix wire hooks to anchor the upper end of the helix when an insulator is applied thereto, said stein having a lower opening through which the lower end of the helix wire hooks to anchor the helix when an insulator is unscrewed therefrom, said upper openings being greater laterally and vertically than the thickness of the helix wire in order to permit yield in all directions of the helix above the lower end thereof when an insulator is unscrewed therefrom.

7. An insulator support comprising a stem, an insulator receiving thimble in the form of a wire helix encircling the stem, means for anchoring the lower end of the helix to the stem and means for anchoring the upper end thereto, the upper anchoring means having lateral play for allowing helical yield and movement of the thimble when an insulator is unscrewed therefrom.

S. An insulator support comprising a stem. an insulator receiving thimble in the form of a wire helix encircling the stem, means for anchoring the lower end of the helix to the stem and m atns for anchoring the upper end thereto. lioth anchoring means having lateral play whereby the helix may yield in all directions when an insulator is applied thereto or ren'ioved therefrom.

E). .\n insulator support comprising a stem, an insulator receiving thimhlc in the form of a uire hclix'encircling the stem. means .'or anchoring the lower end ol the helix to the stem and means for anchoring the upper end thereto, said upper and lower anchoring means having lateral and vertical play for permitting yield of the thimhle turns in all directions when an insulator is applied thereto or unscrewed therefrom.

it). .\n insulator comprising a stem. an insulator receiving thimhle in the form of a wire helix, said stem having upper aml lower openings and the upper and lower ends of thcthimhle wire heingcurveil gradually into the respective openings and tree to move. therein whereby the thimhle may yield helically when an insulator is applied thereto or removed therefrom.

In witness whereof, 1 have hereunto sul scribed my name this 27 day of April, A. 1)., 1914.

(/IIARLJIS L. ll lllttil l, .lii.

\Vitncsses 1 V '(hmumzs J. Stamina, H. B. CARR. 

